Fasting During Lent

"Fasting is directed to two things, the deletion of sin, and the raising of the mind to heavenly things. Wherefore fasting ought to be appointed specially for those times, when it behooves man to be cleansed from sin, and the minds of the faithful to be raised to God by devotion: and these things are particularly requisite before the feast of Easter." - St. Thomas Aquinas ("Summa Theologica" 13th century A.D.)

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred." - Matthew 4:1-2

"And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." - Matthew 9:15

"And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." - Acts 14:23

"[It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." - Romans 14:21

What the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about "Fasting During Lent:"

1438. "The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church's penitential practice. [Cf. SC 109-110; CIC, cann. 1249-1253; CCEO, Cann. 880-883.] These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works)."

CHURCH BELIEFS & ISSUES

WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH BELIEVED

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE CHURCH FATHERS QUOTED IN THIS SECTION
Abortion	Against Heresy	Apostolic Succession & Tradition	The Catholic Church	Contraception
Degrees Of Sin	Divorce	The Eucharist	Good Works	Homosexuality
Infant Baptism	The Mass	The Papacy	Old Testament Canon	Purgatory
Unity Of The Church	The Virgin Mary

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Biblical quotations on this web site are either from the King James Version or the Douay-Rheims Version of the Bible.

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Abortion	Baptism	The Bible		Celibacy of the Clergy
The Church	Church Attendance	Contraception	Degrees of Sin	Divorce
The Eucharist	Fasting During Lent	Good Works	Homosexuality	Money for the Church
"Once Saved, Always Saved?"	The Papacy	Papal Infallibility	Pre-marital Sex	Purgatory
Quick & Easy Catholic Apologetics	The Reformation	Ritual Prayer	The Sacrament of Penance	The Saints
The Trinity	The Virgin Mary